Blood, dirt, vomit—a career starter pack

Hi! I’m Peter, CEO of Kickresume, and these career-related stories caught my attention this month — and might catch yours too.

We have partnered with Brilliant to bring you 30 days of free learning.

I used to be an archaeologist.

The head of our content team, Martin, used to clean up blood in German operating rooms.

It might seem that your early career choices aren't all that important to where you eventually end up in your career. Or are they? 

Maybe if I stuck with my initial choice I could've been Indiana Jones-ing somewhere in the jungle.

Maybe if I dabbled into tech earlier, Kickresume would be worth 10X what it is now. 

And maybe the choice of my first job was actually valuable because I've learned something that I currently use which I wouldn't have learned otherwise.

Don't worry, this won't get too deep.

I just thought my colleagues and I could share our bizarre first jobs and how those experiences shaped our skills and careers in surprising ways.

I'll start.

From a would-be excavator to tech CEO

When I was a teenager, I used to spend all my free time at Beckov Castle premises, which was really close to my house. 

Since we knew the place well, one day we got the opportunity to help archaeologists with excavations. In my mind, it was going to be a treasure hunt.

The reality? A lot of digging. A lot of digging. My main task was to excavate soil, with the occasional upgrade to brush duty for detailing. 

Despite the less-than-exhilarating finds, which included a handful of pottery fragments, there were valuable lessons in the dirt.

For one, it was the first time I had to negotiate my pay and the hours. I managed to haggle for flexible hours and slightly better pay—skills that have served me well since.

From washing bodily fluids to Head of Content

Ever wondered what it’s like to be up close and personal with the aftermath of surgeries? Well, Martin, our head of content, can tell you all about it:

“This one job in the German hospital stands out. It started normal enough: I was tasked with changing hospital beds and cleaning bathrooms. But before I knew it, I got transferred to the surgical floor.

It involved washing blood (and other types of yuck) off the floor, the equipment, and every other nook and cranny of the room. Sometimes we even got summoned in the middle of an actual surgery, if there was a blasted artery or something. 

In hindsight, it was an okay learning experience. I learned to speak German a bit, overcame any feelings of revulsion I still had left (I worked as a waste collector before that, so…), and had a few great stories to tell in the end. 

But most importantly, I came to understand that there are no bad jobs, only bad teams and colleagues. People can make any job either bearable or unbearable. I should know, I worked some pretty gross jobs with people who were anything but.”

Upgrade your career with this simple habit

Used by over 10M people, these quick, visual and interactive lessons by Brilliant help you master highly sought-after and valuable skills in cutting-edge topics like AI, data analysis, and programming. Get the essential knowledge to give your career a boost. 

Try it free for 30 days—plus, get a special discount on an annual premium subscription for Kickresume newsletter readers.

From developing a vaginal probe to Front-end Dev at Kickresume

Ana, our front-end developer, found herself having not-your-average tech job:

“I worked at a start-up that was developing a vaginal probe/sensor to track ovulation.

Besides the usual tasks like building the front-end and back-end of the product website, I found myself doing some rather unexpected things, like soldering the probe parts.

And yes, I even ended up testing the probe, which was weird at the time, but I still use it today because it helps me track my cycle.

Everything was going smoothly until it wasn’t. Towards the end, things got tense, and our boss started communicating with us through her lawyer. 

We hadn’t formalized our pay raises with contract addendums, so she threatened that we’d have to return the extra money we’d earned. 

It was a tough lesson: never rely on verbal promises—always get everything in writing.”

From vomiting in a chemistry lab to Data Scientist

Dag, the resident data scientist, is never short of bizarre stories to tell, so I knew he'd give me something good:

“Back when I was still studying chemistry, I was looking for internships in chemistry/biotech to break into the industry. I found one through a family friend.

My job description was to help develop a filtration method which would increase the yield of the final product. Which I thought sounded pretty cool. 

In reality, I spent 3-4 hours of my day watching solutions drip through a funnel, washing glassware, but mainly reading fliers from grocery stores and taking smoke breaks. 

When things got really slow, my colleague would give me tours around the abandoned parts of the compound which either smelled like penicillin or a mix of rotten eggs and vomit. I often threw up, which amused my colleagues. 

In the end, I didn't learn much, but the people were nice.

Later, when I looked for more opportunities, this experience was surprisingly helpful. I could claim real-world lab experience and described it really professionally on my resume. And it worked!

My takeaway? Even a dull job can open doors if you present it well.”

A job that doesn’t kill you makes you stranger

Reading these stories, it's clear that you shouldn't overthink your early job choices or worry too much about changing career paths completely. 

My advice? Just take the job! 

Even if it doesn't seem to teach you relevant skills, you'll still learn something valuable for your career down the line. 

Or at the very least, you'll have a great story to tell. 

Hand-picked remote job of the month: Senior Director, Digital Marketing at Dropbox 

$206k–$350k annual US base range

• Competitive medical, dental and vision coverage

• (US Only) Competitive 401(k) Plan with a generous company match and immediate vesting

• Flexible Time Off/Paid Time Off, paid holidays, Volunteer time off and more

• Protection Plans including; Life Insurance, Disability Insurance and Travel benefit plans

• Perks Allowance to be used on what matters most to you, whether that’s wellness, learning and development, food & groceries, and much more

• Parental benefits including; Parental Leave, Child and Adult Care, Day Care FSA (US Only), Fertility Benefits (US Only), Adoption and Surrogacy support and Lactation Support  

Learn more here >

Random piece of career advice

How far back should a resume go in 2024? 

Our world is vastly different than it was just two decades ago. People job-hop at nearly twice the rate, and staying at one job for 10+ years has become very uncommon.

So, the common advice is to:

• keep the work experience in a resume between 10 to 15 years; 

• include between 3 to 7 job listings.

Doing so will give your hiring manager a general outline of your career beginnings, your growth, and where you find yourself now. 

Ideally, you want to tailor your resume so that the jobs you list in your work experience are:

• no older than 15 years;

• relevant to the job you’re applying for. 

If you're still not sure how far back your resume should go, we break it down based on career levels on our blog.

And as per usual, as a token of appreciation for your excellent scrolling skills, here’s a 20% discount code for Kickresume Premium. 

Catch you later! 

Peter